Building Better Leaders

A thorough exploration of powerful, high-quality education leadership programs and best practices for continuous improvement

Research has shown that effective principals can have a significant, positive impact on not only student success, but also teacher satisfaction, retention, and skills development. As the need for qualified educational leaders grows, the quality of the principal preparation programs has never mattered more. In Building Better Leaders, Shelby Cosner argues that principal preparation programs must rely on the process of continuous improvement to strengthen their program quality and produce a pipeline of effective leaders. To make robust principal preparation programs a reality, she lays out the tools, processes, and steps involved in adopting and implementing such organizational learning orientations, providing both illustrations and highly actionable guidance.

While many educational leadership programs have historically relied on external accountability through accreditation as a key driver of program improvement, Cosner demonstrates that improvement processes designed and enacted within the programs themselves are more effective at fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Drawing on her extensive insider experience, real-world vignettes, and insights from leaders in the field, Cosner reveals the behind-the-scenes work that is necessary for programs to graduate education leaders ready to meet the challenges of today's educational landscape. Chapters guide readers on how to successfully implement an improvement process where all stakeholders can understand and address program strengths and limitations while building capacities to cultivate continuous improvement. One chapter features guidance tailored to organizations on supporting preparation programs and program improvement.

Insightful and comprehensive, Building Better Leaders supplies strategies and key resources for those who seek to learn about and enact sustained improvement, and will appeal to individuals and organizations who support such efforts.